{"id":359132,"date":"2026-07-30T22:22:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T22:22:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/african-music\/the-yaadt-paati-is-making-room-for-itself-and-everyone-else-on-the-dance-floor-texx-and-the-city\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T22:22:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T22:22:19","slug":"the-yaadt-paati-is-making-room-for-itself-and-everyone-else-on-the-dance-floor-texx-and-the-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=359132","title":{"rendered":"The Yaadt Paati is making room for itself and everyone else on the dance-floor \u2013 Texx and the City"},"content":{"rendered":"


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The first thing you notice at The Yaadt Paati<\/a> isn\u2019t the music. It\u2019s the way the dance-floor moves to it.<\/p>\n

I went to The Yaadt Paati\u2019s last edition in May. The parking lot that is Texas on Albertus Street felt like a strangely fitting venue. It was one of the most fun, spontaneous nights out I\u2019d had all year. It was the sort of dance-floor that keeps you locked in motion. Before I knew it, four hours had flown by. I left smiling, with satisfyingly sore feet. DJ Kixi\u2019s<\/a> set has stayed with me ever since. It\u2019s one of many I\u2019ve seen this year, but one of very few that left a truly lasting impression. Sometimes, I feel like I can play moments of it back to myself.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I grew up in Durban, far removed from Cape Coloured culture and Yaadt music. But at The Yaadt Paati, I felt nostalgic for something I\u2019d never actually experienced before. That\u2019s what happens when a dance-floor becomes alchemic. It had the same energy as the boot-jols at Blue Lagoon and the braai-and-dances held in primary school halls across Pietermaritzburg. Those meeting places and social gatherings that I\u2019d grown up in as part of Durban\u2019s Indian community. Different histories, but same feeling: a marginalised community sharing power by gathering, a statement of visibility and solidarity in each other\u2019s right to celebrate being alive. The Yaadt Paati felt like coming home to a place that doesn\u2019t pretend everyone\u2019s home looks the same.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That feeling is exactly how The Yaadt Paati\u2019s founding daddy Kalo Canterbury, better known as DJ KDOLLAHZ<\/a>, understands Yaadt culture. \u201cYaadt music is more of an umbrella term,\u201d he explains to me. We\u2019ve had this conversation before. Every time, KDOLLAHZ explains Yaadt with the sort of ease that only comes from living it. \u201cIt combines heavy jacking and tribal house beats with synthy, dubby bass and more. Sonically we\u2019ve evolved so much over the years that more and more sounds end up under this umbrella.\u201d But to describe Yaadt as a genre alone is to miss the point entirely. \u201cIt\u2019s more than just a genre, it represents a generational subculture with its own distinct language, style, dances and more,\u201d says KDOLLAHZ. \u201cIt\u2019s a way of life, baba.\u201d<\/p>\n

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For him, Yaadt is something he inherited. \u201cMy parents actually met at Galaxy,\u201d he laughs. \u201cWith my dad being a DJ back in the day, that sound was the soundtrack to our home.\u201d Located in Athlone, Club Galaxy has long been one of the epicentres of Yaadt culture. But its influence was never contained within its walls. The music travelled home with the people who danced to it. Long before streaming services and algorithms, the sound and culture spread through community. Mix CDs were copied between friends. The latest \u2018Yaadt nommers\u2019 were Bluetoothed between Nokia phones at school and church. The energy of the club found a second life in backyards at house parties and family gatherings across the Cape Flats.<\/p>\n

Like many kids growing up in Cape Town, KDOLLAHZ\u2019 introduction to Yaadt came through this ritual of music sharing. \u201cA super deep love for that old-school coloured house party sound is what originally got me into DJing,\u201d he says. Anyone who has got down to a KDOLLAHZ set has experienced how they continue Yaadt\u2019s lineage by connecting the dots, sitting comfortably between the classics and a new generation of producers pushing the sound forward by establishing \u2018Yaadt\u2019 as a sound in itself. The Yaadt Paati grew out of that same desire to celebrate the music he loved in a space that gave it the attention it deserved. \u201cI wanted a jol where it isn\u2019t about status, what you have or who you are,\u201d KDOLLAHZ says. \u201cYou come for the music, en kla<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

That philosophy has resonated well beyond Cape Coloured audiences. Since launching with Black Major earlier this year, The Yaadt Paati has become one of Cape Town\u2019s most exciting recurring nights, bringing together audiences that reflect the city\u2019s diversity while remaining unapologetically rooted in Yaadt culture. Placing Yaadt in the heart of the City Bowl has created something electric. \u201cHonestly, it\u2019s healing,\u201d says KDOLLAHZ. \u201cNot just because the party is all about the pure joy of dancing and singing your heart out, but it\u2019s a real act of reclaiming space.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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That sense of homecoming brings with it a warmth that lingers long after the music at The Yaadt Paati ends. Long before it filled warehouse dance-floors and club sound systems, Yaadt culture existed in living rooms, backyards and community halls. Those spaces weren\u2019t just places to party\u2014they were places to gather. \u201cBefore it ever touched a major club sound system, Yaadt was about the backyard braai, the living room kuier<\/em>, lamming<\/em> on the corner, playing your brasse<\/em> the newest mix off your phone. It was always a third space.\u201d That third space feeling is what defines The Yaadt Paati best. As KDOLLAHZ explains, \u201cPeople aren\u2019t just coming to lose themselves in a dark, impersonal room. They\u2019re coming to find each other. It feels less like clubbing and more like a moerse<\/em> family reunion.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Cape Town and its centre continue to wrestle with questions around access and ownership, it\u2019s the visibility of an event like The Yaadt Paati that matters most. \u201cOur sound doesn\u2019t deserve to stay confined to our homes and communities,\u201d KDOLLAHZ says. \u201cYaadt deserves to be showcased at the highest level, right in the centre of the city because the music is next, next, next<\/em> level. But above all, it\u2019s ours.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rather than adapting Yaadt to fit the conventions of Cape Town city\u2019s nightlife, The Yaadt Paati asks nightlife to make room for Yaadt. \u201cWe took the warmth of a house paati, a braai, a stoep jol and turned it into a high-energy club experience,\u201d KDOLLAHZ explains. \u201cWe just want to keep giving the sound the platform, respect and production value it deserves.\u201d In his own way, he\u2019s sort of going back to that dance-floor at Club Galaxy, the one that quite literally made him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The Yaadt Paati returns for its Winter Edition<\/a> next week, and fourth edition overall. It\u2019s also its biggest to date. Happening inside the blank canvas warehouse of ColourBox studios, the lineup features newcomers on the yaadt scene like Lightbeams<\/a> alongside stalwarts like Aryu Jassika<\/a> and Surreal Sessions<\/a>, with Kixi and of course \u2014 KDOLLAHZ.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

But even as the Paati begins to grow, KDOLLAHZ\u2019 ambitions remain rooted in its core \u2013 the music, and the community. Along with showcasing more of the scene\u2019s pioneers and boundary pushers on The Yaadt Paati\u2019s lineup, he\u2019s just as excited by the possibility of seeing \u201cmore aunties, uncles, cousins, mas and pas\u201d filling its dance-floor. Because ultimately, that\u2019s where The Yaadt Paati makes a little room for everyone.<\/p>\n

I think that\u2019s how four hours disappeared so easily that night at Texas. I arrived expecting to discover another club night and left feeling like I\u2019d stumbled into someone\u2019s family jol \u2014 one generous enough to make room for me too. The Yaadt Paati isn\u2019t simply preserving a musical tradition. It\u2019s reminding Cape Town that some of its richest music subcultures have been parking here all along, waiting for the rest of us to pull in and have a good time.<\/p>\n

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The Yaadt Paati returns for its Winter Edition on Friday, 7 August 2026, at Colourbox Studios in Paarden Eiland from 8pm. The line-up features DJ Kixi, KDOLLAHZ, Surreal Sessions, Aryu Jassika and Lightbeams. Early Bird tickets are R150, with General Admission and door tickets priced at R170. Tickets are available here<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Photographs courtesy Black Major.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n